Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What is Lightning?

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Students experiment with electricity to understand lightning. In this lightning lesson, students show how static electricity causes lightning. Students discuss questions about their experiment and gather important facts. Students...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lightning!

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students use aluminum, a thumbtack, an eraser, and more to create static electricity. For this static electricity lesson plan, students use this experiment to simulate lightning.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Create Your Own Lightning

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students conduct an experiment. In this lightning lesson, students use a blanket and a dark room to simulate lightning.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Static Electricity and Lightning

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students study concepts related to static electricity, based on a single example: lightning. They explain how static electricity, lightning, and sparks are all related phenomena. They draw a diagram illustrating the negative and positive...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lightning

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students study lightening and the history behind how it was used for electricity.  In this electricity lesson students complete several experiments on the invention of the lightning rod.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lightning

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Pupils uncover the science behind lightning and thunder.Theyexamine electrical attraction between like and unlike charges, and the force that creates lightning, is first explained using static electricity.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Benjamin Franklin - Master of Electricity The Kite Experiment and the Invention of the Lightning Rod

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Learners study Benjamin Franklin including who he was, what he invented and his experiment.  In this inventive lesson students follow the steps of Ben Franklin and build a Leyden jar.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lightning and Thunder

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students conduct an experiment. In this lightning and thunder lesson, students learn how to figure out how far away a thunderstorm is.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Bolts Out of the Blue

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students research different types of lightning patterns and compare their origins to an experiment on static electricity. They research different types of lightning, and explain how different light patterns result from those charges.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Stormy Weather

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students conduct experiments. For this weather lesson, students review what they know about weather elements such as cloud formation and storms. Students conduct demonstrations and learn how lightning strikes.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Thunderstorms

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders examine the attraction between two different charges to investigate lightning in a thunderstorm. They complete an experiment and a worksheet.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Miller-Urey Experiment Amino Acids & The Origins of Life on Earth

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Students study the Miller-Urey Experiment including its history and criticism.  In this origins of life lesson students repeat this experiment to see how it works.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Storms and Extreme Weather

For Teachers K - 5th
Students explore hurricanes and tornadoes by conducting an experiment. In this weather pattern lesson, students define many extreme weather vocabulary terms and discuss the relationship with static electricity. Students utilize plastic...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lightening the Load

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students explore a study of African women who are able to carry heavy loads by altering their gait; they then conduct experiments that study the relationship between exertion, weight and heart rate.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Stormy Weather

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Learners conduct various experiments to explore the concepts that static electricity is the cause of lightning.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Getting A Charge Out of the Sky

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Students investigate electricity from the sky. In this electricity lesson, students participate in an experiment to simulate the electric charges from the sky. Students discuss results.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Electricity and Magnetism: From Fun to Function

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders experiment with electricity and magnetism and build an electromagnetic motor. In this electromagnetism lesson, 4th graders use household objects to show electrostatics and magnets and compasses to show magnetism. They...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rod, Penny, and Lightning: The Straight Story

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students review the concept of a movement story. As a class, they practice moving in straight, curved and zigzag pathways while making frozen body shapes of the characters in the story. To end the instructional activity, they must...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Will it Hold A Charge?

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders discuss which materials they believe hold an electric charge. In groups, they experiment with different objects and charging them. They discuss their results after the activity.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

More About Static Electricity

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students examine the concept that static electricity is a phenomenon that involves positive and negative charges. They explore the Static Electricity section of the Science, Technology and Engineering website to learn more about the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Make Acid Rain

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Students create models of the earth's atmosphere to explore how gases that are dissolved in water can eventually create acid rain. After conducting a series of experiments within their models of the earth's atmosphere, students analyze...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Science: Einstein's Big Idea

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Students explore the various aspects of Einstein's energy equation and discover how energy is transferred from one form to another. In teams, they rotate through seven stations to experience such aspects of energy change through...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Matter, Matter

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students define vocabulary related to the parts of the atom.  In this matter lesson, students navigate the web to find the structure and the forces that affect atoms.  Students complete an experiment with positive and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Static electricity: Ah, There's the rub!

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students experiment to investigate static electricity.  In this static electricity lesson plan, students prepare a balloon head and draw a face on it.  Students rub the nose and the balloon moves toward the student rubbing.